List 4

Alacrity: cheerful readiness

Antithesis: the direct opposite

Brouhaha: confused hodgepodge of sounds

Carnage: large scale slaughter, loss of life

Criterion: rule, test, standard for judgement

Edict: an order issued by an authority figure

Inception: beginning, start, earliest stage

Infirmity: weakness or ailement

Parable: short narrative designed to teach a moral lesson

Stricture: limitation or restriction

Ultimatum: final proposal or statement of conditions

Veneer: thin outer layer